Exhaust system for submarine vessels



H. E. GRIESHABER.

EXHAUST SYSTEM FOR SUBMARINE VESSELS. APPUCATION FILED AUG. 14, 920.

1,383,398. Patented July 5, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. E. GRIESHABER.

EXHAUST SYSTEM FOR SUBMARINE VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 14, 1920- I Patented July 5, 1921.

2 SHEEIS-SHEET 2.

Groton, in the county of New London,

,UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGO'E. GRIESHABER, ,OF GROTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO ELECTRIC BOATCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OFNEW JERSEY.

EXHAUST SYSTEM FOR SUBMARINE VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1921.

Application filed August 14, 1920. Serial No. 403,578.

i all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HUGO E. GRIESHABER, acitizen of the United States, residirg at tate of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Exhaust Systems forSubmarine Vessels; and I do hereby declare the following-to be a full,clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled inthe art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

-This invention relates to submarine engines-and more particularly tomeans for closing the exhaust ports, of such engines upon submergenceand opening them upon emergence.

'When cruising upon the surface, submarine vessels are commonly drivenby means of an'internal combustion engine located within the hull of theboat and having its muffler and exhaustlocated within thesuperstructure. When submerged, driving power is drawn from electricaccumulators o'r storage batteries charged by means of a generatoroperated by. the engine during surface running. WVhen the ship submergesthe exhaust must be instantly closed. Otherwise water would be free toenter the exhaust passages, causing irreparable damage to the engineand, under certain conditions, flooding the interior of the vesselitself. A closure mechanism which can successfully perform this functionof sealing the exhaust port must meetcer'tain exacting requirements:First, it must be operable from the interior of the boat and operableupon an instants notice. Second, the valve'or closure proper must formawater-tight'seal when seated uponthe end of the exhaust pipe. Thismeans that it 'must'be provided with ayielda ble seat, such as one madeof rubber, or with a metal seat ground true.

In either event the valve must be protected out of ali'nem'en't with therest of the pipe.

A valve is mounted abovethe exhaust and is so linked up with "theswinging pi pe section that when the latter swings out 'of o-si tion thevalve swings downwardly into position and closes the open end of theexhaust. 7 en the pipe section is moved back into alinement, thevalveswings away and-is protected from the exhaust gases by the thenunlnterrupted length of the exhaust pipe. A vertically reciprocating rodoperated by mechanism within the hull of the boat governs the movementsofthe pipe section and valve described above.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood reference ishad to the accompanying drawings disclosing a pre ferred embodimentthereof, In the vessel shown in these drawings, twin engines areemployed, and accordingly two symmetrically disposed closure mechanismsare used. Aszboth' these mechanisms are, however, identical in structureand operation, only one hasbeen shown, and. only one will be described.The relation of the two will be apparent from the drawings themselves;in which,

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the hull of the vessel and theexhaust, showing the movable section ofthe exhaust pipe.

swung out of alinement, and the closure seated upon the end of theexhaust. The mechanism within "the hull of the ship through which theseparts are operated is shown in'e-levation and partly in section;

Fig. 2 is a ,plan showing the removable section'of the exhaust pipe inposition, and the valve raised and in inoperative position;

Fig. 3 is a plan of the operating apparatus situated within the hullofthe vessel; Fig. l'is a diagrammatic sketch of the link movementbymeans of which motion is transmitted from the prime moving apparatus tothe movable pipe section and the closureproper; and

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, showing thereciprocating cross head of the operating mechanism in detail.

Inthe drawings 1 represents the hull of the vessel which is providedwith the ordinary superstructure (not shown) in which is located theexhaust mechanism 'c'ompris ing in general a mufller 2 and a substantially horizontal exhaust pipe or passage 3. During surface cruisingthis exhaust pipe c'arriesthe exhaust. gases'to the side of the supefstructure and away. Within the exhau'st pipe, and just beyond the'mufller, there is provided a movable intermediate section-4 integralwith and. supported by a shaft 5'journaled for oscillating movement inbearings 6 mounted upon framo work t. The section 4 thus mounted may beswung out of alinement with the restof thee);-

"haust pipe, as shownin Fig. 1. In order that this swinging motion maybereadily effected the ends of the section 4 and the corvresponding ends.of' the exhaust pipe 3 are out upon clrcular l1nes,fan d in order thata reasonably gas tight joint may be made when the .exhaust pipe iscontinuous and functioning, both openends of the exhaust pipe and theends of the section are proannular seat 16, which encirclesthe otherwiseopen end of the exhaust pipe 3. J

Movable section 4 and valve 10 move simultaneously, the one into and theother out of operative position, and vice versa.

L These coordinated movements are effected by means of a link movement,shown most clearly in-Fig- 4. Integral with the outer end of shaft 5,uponfwhichv section 4.11s

mounted, is an arm 17, and integral with the outer end of shaft 13, uponwhich valve 10 is ultimately fiX8d.,'lS a similar arm 18. Connectingthese two arms 17 and 18 is. a loosely mounted link 19. Thus when thevalve 10 is moved downwardly in a counterclockwise direction, section 4swings toward the vertical in'a clockwise direction.

These movements are effected through the V instrumentality of an arm 20fixed upon the inner end of shaft 13', a pitman 41 and a verticallymoving rod 22, which is reciprocated by means of mechanism situatedwithin the hull of the vessel. 7 x 7 r This" mechanism, which is shownmost clearlyin Figs. 1 and 3, is supported :by a depending frame-work 23made fast to the hull 1 of the vessel. It comprises an air cylinder 24which efiectsa movement of a piston rod 25, to which issecureda'reciproeating cross head 26 sliding in suitable ways 27. Projectinglaterally from either side of this cross head are cross arms 28 and 29atthe extremities of which connecting rods 30 and 32 are pivoted bymeans of ball and socket joints33and 34, respectively. These connectingrods 30 and 32 are operatively con-' nected with the upper arms of bellcrank levers 35, which are integrally mounted upon a common shaft 37,journaled within a depending bracket 39, extending from cylinder 24. Thelower arm of bell crank lever 35 is "connected to rod 22 through a link40. The lower-arm of the bell crank lever 36 is similarly connectedthrough a link 42 to a vertical rod analogous to rod 22. This rod andits attendant mechanism, 29 32 and 36, operate the closure on thestarboard engine (not shown). 7

.The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The ship is cruising uponthe surface, section 4 is in position and valve 10 is raised intoinoperative position, as indicated by An operator'within the vesselturns a cock which admits compressedair into the right;

hand end,as shown, of cylinder 24. This causes a movement of piston rod25 and cross head 26toward the left. This movement is transmittedthrough connecting rod 30, bell crank lever 35 link 40, rod 22, arm

20 and the rest of the link mechanism shown in Fig. 4, to swing valve30' downwardly into position, and section 4 verticallyout" of position.This movement takes place rapidly and with sufficient force to seat thevalve 10 firmly upon its seat -16 and thus effectively prevent/theentrance of any sea water 'intothe exhaust pipe 3,and from this into theengine and the ship itself. -Upon dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in fulllines in Fig. 2. Thenecessity forsubmergence arises.

emerging, action of the partsiis reversed,

valve 10 retracted and section '4 swung back into alinement; Then inthis position it is clear that the sealing surface of the valve 10 isamply protected from the heat of the exhaust.gases. d 7

In the event-of accident to'the air compressor or cylinder 24,anemergency hand gear is provided by means of which the closuremechanism may be operated. jThis gear comprises a hand wheel 43 w hichturns a shaft 44 upon whichare mounted worms 45. These worms mesh withworm wheels 46 journaled withinsuitable bearings 47 in the frame of the.ways 27. These worm wheels 45-;and the coaxial extensions thereof tothese details. of construction. I 'For"instance, the use of compressedair has been instanced as the motive powerrus'e'd in'the reciprocationofcross head 26. ."It' is clear, however, that steam might well beused,' and that-as -a matter offact any means such as the hand geardescribed might be used to effect this sliding movement. Other changesof similar nature will readily suggest themselves to those skilled inthis art.

I claim:

1. A submarine boat having a hull, an internal combustion enginetherein, an exhaust passage for the engine leading outside the hull, amovable intermediate section in this exhaust passage designed to bemoved out of alinement with the rest of the passage,-and a closuredesigned to close the end of the exhaust passage when the movablesection is moved out of alinement.

2. A submarine boat having a hull, an internal combustion enginetherein, an exhaust passage for the engine leading outside the hull, amovable intermediate section in this exhaust passage designed to beswung out of alinement with the rest of the passage, and a closuredesigned to be simultaneously swung over the end of the exhaust passage.

3. A submarine boat having a hull, an internal combustion enginetherein, an exhaust passage for the engine leading outside the hull, amovable intermediate section in this exhaust passage designed to beswung into and out of alinement with the rest of the passage, and aclosure designed to swing over the end of the exhaust pas sage when themovable section is swung out of alinement, and away fromrthe exhaustpassage when the movable section is swung into alinement.

4. The structure of claim 1 and including further, mechanism within thehull of the boat for moving the movable section and the closure.

5. The structure of claim 3 and including further, unified linkmechanism controlling the alternating movements of the movable sectionand th closure, and mechanism within the hull of the vessel operatingthrough the link mechanism to move the section and closure.

6. Exhaust mechanism for submarine engines comprising the combination ofan exhaust passage, a movable intermediate section therein aline d withthe rest of the passage during surface cruising, a closure mounted nearth movable section and protected from the exhaust gases by this section, the parts being so arranged that prior to submergence the movablesection can be moved out of alinement and the closure moved over theopen end of the exhaust passage to seal it.

A submarine boat having a hull, an internal combustion engine therein,an exhaust passage for the engine leading out- $ide the hull, theexternal length thereof being substantially horizontal, a movableintermediate section in this exhaust passage pivotally supported at apoint above its middle and designed to be swung about said point intoand out of alinement with the rest of the passage, and a closuredesigned to swing over the exposed end of the exhaust passage nearestthe engine when the movable section is swung out of alinement, and awayfrom the exhaust passage when the movable section is swung intoalinement.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HUGO E. GRIESHABER.

